Family Goes Miniature Golfing

We decided to go miniature golfing on an April Saturday afternoon/evening. It was a little chilly out so it meant there weren't too many people there competing for the course which was perfect. Our kids had a blast. Carson of course loved just trying to hit his ball and then picking it up and putting it in the hole and saying he got a hole in one. Kolby was of course very competitive and worked hard to get a real hole in one. And Eliza was thrilled at first and then lost interest and had more fun climbing on things and throwing the balls through different holes to see where they would come out. The tragedy came at Hole #18 when Carson realized his ball wasn't coming back to him. Wow! The kid took it really hard. Besides that minor episode it was a really fun time together with everyone laughing and having a great time. We will definitely have to do it again soon.

The kids always say they want to go golfing again...and I want to even if it is the only way I can get Carson to wear his "golfing" shoes. I bought him a new pair of comfy sandals so we can throw away his old fake crocs that he loves to constantly wear and he will not put them on. We sold them to him as golfing shoes, though so he wore them that night and loved them. However, when we try to put them on him now he says he can't wear them because they are only for golfing. Hmmmm...smart kid...he's gonna be a tough one!

Easter 2010

Park Day Easter Egg Hunt...it was chilly and sprinkling on us the week before Easter in Bakersfield. Totally unexpected but the kids were still happy to be out there hunting for eggs and fill their buckets up with candy.


Amber, our neighbor, was sweet to invite us over to color eggs. She set it all up in her backyard and the kids had a great time. Amber's mom was in town also, but you can see Amber's boys Joshua, Jacob and Jayden and Kolby, Eliza and Carson working away in the pictures below.




Easter Morning. It was so nice because General Conference was on Easter so we didn't have to rush out to church. We got to have a nice relaxing Easter morning, watch General Conference, and then head down to my parent's house for Easter dinner and our annual easter egg hunt. The kids were thrilled with their baskets and lots of new spring clothes, just what they needed!





At Grandma & Grandpa's House:

Spring Miscellaneous

I was fixing dinner one night and the kids wouldn't leave me alone so I gave them a project that they loved. I sent them outside to plant the cantaloupe seeds that I was just about to throw away and also found a packet of flower seeds to have them plant. They loved the project as you can see below. A few tears were shed, along with clothes as you can see below, though when Kolby decided to be master of the hose and get everyone else wet. It wasn't really that warm out to be getting soaked by a hose and Carson let him know it. But they all made up by the time they came inside and got dressed again and Kolby gave them horsey rides. I love it when they can all play together, especially when it means that I can get something done.



These next few pictures are from one night when it was time to get jammies on and Eliza and Carson decided it was really time to play around and compare bellies and see how strong Eliza was. Even though I was a little annoyed they were not getting their jammies on, I was happy to see how cute they were being with each other and had to capture the moment on camera.




The picture below shows our good friends Natalie and Thomas in the hot tub with Kolby and Eliza. They used to be our neighbors in Visalia and we hadn't seen them for a while. They came to visit us over Spring Break and we went to Pump it Up, then everyone's favorite, Subway, for lunch and then they spent a little time hanging out at our house. We were so glad to see them!

Mother Son Luau Dance at Kolby's School

In March, Kolby and I attended a Mother Son Luau Dance at Veterans Elementary. We were so excited to go and spend time together. It was fun to see Kolby's teacher and friends their as well and our neighbors. I thought Kolby would do a little more dancing than he actually did. Rather than dance, he wanted to devour the cookies and punch and do a lot of people watching. It amazing to see how shy he can be when he wants to or maybe just when I am around.

I am so glad that the school had that event. It was great to go on a date with my little boy who is not so little anymore. And after the dance his dad took him to the store and Kolby picked out some beautiful long stemmed pink roses and came home and gave them to me and said thanks for going to the dance with me. I'm sure his dad put him up to it but of course I still loved it and can't believe I didn't take any pictures of the beautiful flowers! They lasted forever and Kolby was very proud of picking such pretty flowers out for his mom.

Maui without Kids...ahhhhh!

The most exciting thing that is happening around here is that Geoff and I went to Maui all by ourselves for almost 9 days. We hired a babysitter, Lindsay, to come watch the kids for the first 5 days so the kids could be at home in their own environment and still go to school, preschool, gymnastics, etc. and then my parents came and picked them up and took them for the last 3 1/2 days. Kolby and Eliza were totally fine having a babysitter and as a matter of fact, before we left, Eliza kept asking me when the babysitter was coming. I told her in 2 days and she was so disappointed and told me that she wanted the babysitter to come sooner and wanted us to go to Hawaii. I was feeling a little distraught inside, but tried not to let it show. The next day she told me something about not wanting me to leave and I was confused and asked why she had just said the day before that she wanted me to leave. She confessed that she only said that she wanted us to go because she wanted to be able to eat all of the "special snacks" I had bought for when the babysitter came. Ah...that made perfect sense! Silly little kids.
But seriously, the kids missed us, but were fine, except for Carson. Lindsay told me that just about every 5 minutes he would start crying and say either "I want my mommy" or "Where's my mommy?" Kolby and Eliza would have to comfort him and remind him that he was going to Grandma's house soon. That would work for a few minutes and then they'd have to do it again.
Apparently they were thrilled when my parents showed up on Friday afternoon and had a great time being with grandma and grandpa and their cousin, alexis. The good news is everyone survived and though we missed the kids and thought of them often, we had a great time just worry about ourselves and doing whatever we wanted to do. Here are a few pictures to describe our trip:

One of my favorite moments of the trip...I had a splitting headache for the first few days cuz my neck was out and we were up on this cliff watching these awesome surfers surf on 15 foot waves at Honolua bay and ended up talking to this guy who was capturing his son on video and found out that he was a chiropractor. I asked him if he would adjust me, kind of expecting him to laugh it off, but he totally put away his video camera and looked for a flat, non rocky spot on this cliff for me to lay down and get an adjustment. That was some serious Aloha spirit that I appreciated so much. My headache went away and I was able to enjoy the rest of the trip thanks to Dr. Joel Stuart.



Geoff, envious of the surfers in the water. He really wanted to be out there on this amazing surf days, but the small Honolua bay was littered with about 70 surfers who were all really really good and Geoff only had a long board. So we just watched and enjoyed the amazing sunset and awesome surf show!
Mr. Surf Dude after a surf session. He's always said he could surf but I've never really seen him do it much until this trip. And I was very impressed. He really is a surfer!


Posing at one of the beautiful private waterfalls and swimming holes we hiked back into on our "Road to Hana" trip.

Beautiful view from one of the ancient king's temple. Ahhh!!!

The Black Sand Beach on the Road to Hana. Cool arch in the background that you can't see very well and a fun little cave that goes through to the water.

Boogie boarding at Hamoa Beach. It was such a beautiful small beach with great boogie boarding or body surfing waves and no reef to get cut up on.
The not so tropical side of the island. We did the road to Hana and went all the way around the island instead of turning around and going back on the main road. Very interesting and very remote.
We were there for the "tsunami". This is the view from our condo. Normally you can't see any of that reef that is showing in the picture but during the tsunami, the water would pull back and expose a bunch of the reef and then it would fill back in. It happened a couple of times and then the ocean seemed to go back to normal. It was crazy being there for the tsunami. The locals were very nervous. The lines at the gas stations and at grocery stores were insane. We were evacuated to higher ground, so we packed up our things and took our rental car to higher ground but then returned to our condo to watch the news and see what was happening at the big island of Hawaii since it was supposed to hit there first. Since the tsunami was nothing major there, we felt pretty safe sticking around.
Sunset from our condo
Sunrise whale watching cruise. We saw tons of whales this trip. It was so cool. It was fun to be there at this time of year when the humpbacks and there little babies are all over the place and always putting on a show.

My Sweet Valentines

I love copying the way my mom did Valentine's. I decorate the kitchen so the kids wake up and have a fun table to eat at, candy and chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, strawberries, and a special little Valentine's present sitting at their plate. They were super surprised this year cuz we didn't really even mention Valentine's much and I didn't put up any Valentine's decor until the night before when they were in bed. Of course that meant we had to leave it up for a while afterwards, but it was so fun. Eliza was the most pleased with her little gift...she got the green bathing suit and put it right on and didn't want to take it off. I love it when I pick a winner! And I love all of my little Valentines! And my big Valentine, of course, too!

Grandpa Downen's 64th Birthday Party

In January we went down for my Dad's 64th Birthday. It was so fun to get to see family and aunt Deb and Uncle David who were in town from Oregon. Dad was happy as can be being surrounded by a few of his cute grandkids. The "winning" gift came from Madisen, who wanted to give grandpa a banana so that's what they wrapped up. He finally received his dream gift from us, "Passing Time in the Loo". We received this as a wedding gift from the Halversons and my dad has loved coming to our house over the years solely to use the restroom and spend time in their reading this book. We figured it was time for his own copy. He was thrilled! Happy Birthday Dad. We love you!

Grandpa with Alexis and Madisen and his "Another Year Sexier" button. I wonder if he wears that to work???